Siemens to cut 4 500 jobs as part of reorganisation

German engineering giant Siemens will shed 4,500 jobs across its global workforce as part of a major reorganisation.

The job cuts announced today are in addition to 7,800 simlar cuts revealed in February this year.

Siemens announced the reorganisation in May last year as part of its Vision 2020 programme, with the aim to improve the firm’s competitiveness in the global markets.

"With the initiation of these measures, the company's structural reorganization has been completed for the most part," said Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens AG.

2,200 of the additional 4,500 jobs to be cut are located in Germany, Siemens said.

As part of the reorganisation, the firm - which employs 14,000 people in the UK - will focus on streamlining its administrative functions and non-profitable businesses.

The firm hopes its measures will enable cutting overhead costs by €1bn by 2016.

The firm’s troubled Power and Gas Division will see a major restructuring of its sales departments, while an additional €100m will be injected into research and development activities, a step Siemens hopes will optimise its portfolio and improve the cost position.

As part of the Vision 2020, the conglomerate's focus is expected to shift towards growth fields including electrification, automation and digitalisation.

The reorganisation, which has been underway since October 2014, will continue until the end of the fiscal year in 2017.

Siemens, the world’s number one builder of offshore wind turbines, currently employes 341,000 people around the world. The firm has multiple facilities in the UK, including Cheshire and Oxfordshire.

Last year, Siemens announced it would invest £290m in the UK to build a major offshore wind power manufacturing site in Hull.

During the press conference today, Siemens also announced that its profits for the first quarter of 2015 were £2.9bn.